Tuesday, February 25, 2014

What the??? The other day we had really nice weather here in Denver. Today is was 64. Now, Monday night, they are talking about snow. Did spring's spring get sprung or what?One of the lakes near us was thawed for several days and then the other morning it was frozen over again. 'Course, I would not want to venture out to see how thick the ice was. Mother nature needs to get with the program. I swear, I saw a fish last week at the lake that Nugget and I like to walk around that was wearing a coat. There was also some geese with their butts frozen to the ice. We watched as a coyote tried to get a frozen goose dinner. He slipped and slid right by those geese. As the geese took flight, they left all kinds of feathers stuck to the ice.Nothing like seeing a bunch of bare butted geese taking off. And some of them geese? I could have sworn that their honking was a few octaves higher than they should be. I'm ready for some warm weather. I'm sure the geese are also.

Monday, February 24, 2014

"Tomorrow is Fat Tuesday, and of course, this being America, it will be followed by Even Fatter Wednesday, Obese Thursday and Fat-Ass Friday."--Jay Leno, American Comedian-------------------------------------------------------------------Thanks to all who entered to win the free bottles of Purex Crystals Fresh Mountain Breeze last week. The winners are: Toystory, Donna Cheatle, and kcmcgrew213, and their prizes have been mailed.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

She is over 80 years of age and still gets around. Her side of the family has not treated her the best over the years. My side of the family has done what it can. She stayed with my parents for weeks on end after she broke her leg. My parents took her to doctor appointments. They ran errands, went to the bank, and wrote out her checks to pay bills.It got to the point that I would drive to Loveland (CO) three or four times a week to help my parents get my Aunt and her wheelchair upstairs then out the door and off the porch, so they could get her into the car to take her to her doctor. I didn't mind. It's family. I know that it was rough for her, after all these years, having to depend on others to help her, after years of taking care of herself.

When my sister and I were every young my aunt and uncle lived on the ranch. All seemed right with the world. We had horses to ride, cows to chase, and cousins to bully rag with. It was new and different for me and my sister. For our three cousins, it wasn't as much fun. They would go horseback riding with us, of course, but seemed to get bored pretty quickly.They had tons of comic books. My sister and I would end up taking stacks of them home with us, and our cousins always seemed to have newer comics the next time we'd come to visit. The hired help also keep a eye on my sister and me as we went around the ranch. There were a lot of things that you can get hurt on at the ranch. They would always hold their breath when my sister and I would jump out the hayloft door to land in a big pile of hay next to the barn. If our cousins did it, we wanted to do it also. My cousins once talked me into trying to ride one of the bull calves that was penned up. This is way before mutton busting. I made it about two thirds of the way across the pen on that little bull. He slipped one way, and I the other. He was okay. Me? I landed, I swear, in the biggest fresh cow-pie on the place. They laughed, I cried, then I laughed. And then my aunt showed up.The boys got a chewing out. I got a bath, and the hired help chuckled. I was called "cow-pie" for several summers after that.There is so much that is done on a ranch. Besides all of the cows, our aunt had chickens and some baby lambs. She would feed these little lambs from these big bottles with nipples on the ends. My sister and I helped her every morning to feed them lambs. From there, we would feed the chickens she had. Then she would make us wash our hands and she would start breakfast.It seemed that there was always way to much food for all of us. But then some of the hired hands would come in to eat also. There was eggs, bacon, juice, milk, coffee, hash browns, pancakes, biscuits, gravy, and fruit. The woman could cook! We all ate 'til we thought we would burst. When we finished, she told us to wash up again, and she would clean up the kitchen.After she finished the kitchen, she would take us out to a shed by the chickens and lambs and produce some fishing poles. She would then load us up, me and my sister, in one of the old Willies Jeeps and drive us out to some beaver ponds not to far from the house. Boy, were we surprised when we saw her bait her own hook, and then bait ours for us. We would catch brook trout and put them in a cooler. After we had caught it seemed like a hundred fish, she would load us back up for the trip back to the house. She had lunch to get ready.Lunch for everybody was, of course, brook trout. She would brag and blow about how my sister and I had caught the biggest part of the fish. She would take us on walks, and we would pick up all kinds of neat rocks, arrow heads, fossils, and even some real small bones from lizards and frogs. We learned lots of things from her over the years. It was so hard for us to go home every time we stayed on the ranch. But, there was always next summer.Now, after all these years, she does not get around like she used to. The lease to the ranch was given up by my uncle years ago. She has since lost her two oldest boys. She is living in a "home for old ladies," as she calls it.But she remembers my sister and I coming to the ranch. She still remembers and talks about all of the things we did. My sister and I remember right along with her. She has earned every gray hair, wrinkle, and scar. She would like to go back to living on a small ranch or cabin she could call her own.

She still has that sparkle in her eyes when she talks about those times, and we share a recipe or two, along with our stories of back then.I remember, with a bit of a tear or two, in my eyes. And we both just look at each other and grin.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

A 102 year old Missouri man, Eric P. Newman, hoarded nearly 2,000 rare American coins over 90 some odd years. The coins sold for $23 million at auction. He started collecting the coins in the 1930s, and paid about $7,500 for the 1,800-piece collection.A 1795 U.S. silver dollar in "almost pristine condition" sold for $910,625.Now, I'm thinking that I should have checked out all of the coins my Dad had collected over the years, instead of just selling them for the silver content for my Mom.So, check them silver coins you all have. You never know what might be setting there waiting for you to discover.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

My favorite thing (well, really the only thing I like) about laundry is the scent of freshly laundered clothes and linens. I’m always so disappointed when that fresh scent is gone by the time I use a towel or wear a shirt.But! Purex Crystals Fresh Mountain Breeze helps my laundry smell fresh for a long time, not just that day.
The first load I did using the crystals was sheets. There is nothing like the scent of freshly laundered sheets, even better if they line dry.It’s been below zero here and I don’t have a clothesline up right now, so that wasn’t going to happen. So I added a capful of Purex Crystals Fresh Mountain Breeze to see if it would replicate that scent.I was a little skeptical, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised. Not only did it make my bedding smell nice, but it lasted a long time.
I've been using this on every load of laundry that I want that fresh scent on. If you like scented laundry, you will really like this.Purex sent me a bottle of Purex Crystals Fresh Mountain Breeze to use in exchange for my honest opinion and review of the product, PLUS three coupons for FREE products that I can give to blog readers. Just comment here or email me at
and tell me why you want one of the coupons for a free bottle. I will choose three responses at random on Wednesday, February 19th, so be sure to post or email by midnight the 18th.
PLUS, to celebrate the release of New Purex Crystals Fresh Mountain Breeze, Purex is hosting a sweepstakes. One grand prize winner will receive $500 while 100 second place winners will receive a coupon for a free bottle. Be sure to enter to win!http://insiders.purex.com/OverTheMtThroughTheWoods?id=350

So, yesterday a friend called and invited me to his house for lunch. He had made a big pot of beans and some cornbread. And you all know how I like cornbread and a big bowl of beans! Well, I arrived at his house at 1p.m. as he asked me to. As I was let into his house, he was on the phone. No biggie. He finished his call, hung up the phone, and one of his sons showed up at the house with one of his friends. We were all going to eat lunch. Or so I thought. His son had picked up his friend after getting off work so his son decides that he needs to take a shower first.So off he goes to shower. Meanwhile, I'm starting to get a little more hungry. We then went into the kitchen to have a seat. There was nothing on the stove and I didn't smell anything cooking. My friend and his son's friend started talking as we sat at the table.After about 45 minutes or so, I broke in on the conversation to ask if we are going to eat. My friend said "Sure, in a couple of minutes." So I grabbed a cold can of Mountain Dew out of the fridge. I saw this big Tupperware bowl with beans in the fridge. Now, with some friends, you can make yourself right at home and help yourself to a drink, or chips, and even a sandwich now and then.Well my friend is just such a friend. I got that big old bowl of beans out of the fridge and saw that he had made his cornbread in a loaf pan. So, we were coming up on 2 hours. My stomach was talking, growling, and making all kinds of racket. I asked again if we were going to eat.He says that WE need to make some more cornbread first. He wanted me to show him how to cook it in a cast-iron skillet. If I had known that I was going to be doing some cooking, I would have started over a hour ago. The skillet was big. And he brought out this little box of cornbread mix. It would of been just enough to make one big pancake of cornbread about a half inch or less thick.I told him he either had to have a smaller skillet or another box of mix. We used two boxes of mix. He did not have any bacon grease for the skillet! (What?!!!) So we used olive oil. A nice thin coat. Whipped up the batter, poured it in the skillet, and placed it into the oven.After about 25 minutes or so it was done. My friend just could not get over how easy it was. I mean there is not much for it to be difficult.I'm used to doing cornbread in a skillet. He is used to using a bread pan. It all comes out tasting great. The beans we reheated. White beans with onion, dried celery flakes, and cooked ham, added just before they were done. I add the ham with the beans before cooking when I make them. It's all in how you were raised and what you grew up with.Lunch was good. The company was also good. Later, we all started to have a rootin' tootin' good time. Like I said, it's all in how you were raised.